Seattle schools bursting at seams as new year gets underway

When Seattle schools open Wednesday for the new year, they’ll be bursting at the seams. While the district continues scrambling to make room, there are fears the problem will only get worse.

An estimated 1,300 more students will join the already crowded district this school year. That number is expected to continue climbing by approximately 1,000 students each year.

The growth is particularly acute in elementary schools across the city, especially in the north end. Greenwood’s West Woodland will have five kindergarten classes this year, while John Rogers Elementary School in northeast Seattle will grow to four kindergarten classes.

Officials are doing all they can to accommodate the surging enrollment. Portable classrooms have become a staple at many schools, with the district adding upwards of 30 new portables this summer alone.

But longtime district watchdog Melissa Westbrook, publisher of the Seattle Schools Community Forum, argues portables are hardly a long-term solution.

“The thing about portables is they give you classroom space but no bathroom space, no cafeteria space, no library space, so you really are trying to make existing facilities meet even more kids.”

Along with adding portables, the district is also reopening previously closed schools and moving programs around to accommodate the student boom.

Among the changes, the Jane Adams K-8 program was moved from its building in northeast Seattle to make way for a new middle school and 900 students, including 7th and 8th graders forced to transfer from other schools, like overcrowded Eckstein Middle School.

Westrook says she has heard from a number of parents upset with the changes. Some students will be forced to take two Metro buses in order to get to the new school, since some students are not eligible for yellow bus service.

“It’s a real worry. That means you have to count on at least two city buses. The first one has to be on time in order for the students to be on time,” says Westbrook.

Other middle school students could be forced to change schools several times over the next few years as the district continues moving programs and redrawing boundaries to accommodate all the new growth.

At a ribbon cutting ceremony for the new middle school Tuesday, interim superintendent Dr. Larry Nyland acknowledged the potential for disruption, but insisted the district is doing all it can to minimize it.

“I wish that we could make that different but there probably will be some of that in the future in terms of trying to make the best use of the facilities that we have,” he says.

While the surging enrollment is considered critical, primarily in elementary and middle schools in the north end and West Seattle, Westbrook and others warn it will soon hit high schools. They also say they worry the district isn’t doing enough to prepare for the coming surge.

“It won’t be a crisis this year, but if the district doesn’t start to seriously address it this year, they won’t be ready for the crisis when it comes,” says Charlie Mas, co-publisher of the Seattle Schools Community Forum and longtime schools watchdog.

With high schools across the city – with the exception of Rainier Beach in the south end – at or near capacity, the district has few options.

Westbrook says portables are inevitable at schools like Roosevelt, which will have a significant impact on other programs.

“If you have to have more kids and you put in portables, then you’re going to put them on the sports field, and that’s going to cut back on all the PE and sports that they have at that school,” she says.

While voters approved a $694 million property tax levy in 2013 for upgrading and renovating aging school facilities and addressing enrollment growth, administrators say it’s quite possible they could be forced to go back to taxpayers in the near future for more money.

Nyland says the district is also talking with lawmakers in Olympia about possible state help.

“We are looking at a whole lot of creative solutions to figure out how we can be ready for those students when they come,” he says.

If there is a bright side, there’s plenty of agreement the surging enrollment is a sign Seattle schools remain extremely attractive after a decade of declining enrollment as many families left for what were perceived as better districts on the Eastside and north of the city.

“It is a tribute to Seattle schools that so many people want to get into the door,” says Westbrook.

Nyland remains confident, despite the challenges of finding a place to put all the students, the quality of education won’t be compromised.

“I have great confidence in the teachers and principals to do their job and do it well,” he says.